


blood, muscle, and bone

by orphan_account



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Budding Love, F/M, Friendship, Internal Conflict, confusing emotions babey, theyre friends but hordak would die before he admitted it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 02:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19163623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: he had found her in his sanctum once again, tinkering with one of her newer drone models. she had continued to make improvements based on how they operated in the field, and hordak had observed her progress closely. he stood a bit to her side, but never behind her.he wouldn't want to block her light.





	blood, muscle, and bone

**Author's Note:**

> prompt from this funky post  
> https://spop-prompts.tumblr.com/post/185226053781/a-lab-mishap-results-in-a-blast-that-hurls-hordak
> 
> its 8:40 am please fucking help me

all the tests they've ever ran have had their shares of ups and downs. explosions and burns and pieces of shrapnel getting snagged on the skin were certainly not uncommon occurrences, and it never quite clicked in hordak the real dangers of lab work against someone like entrapta. he was more than aware of etherian fragility (disgusting, really, but something he could generally work around or use to his advantage), but it was easy to forget that entrapta even was etherian when they worked in such close quarters and she knew as much as she did.

entrapta was smart, for an etherian. her theories made sense and her experiments and gadgets proved beyond beneficial for the horde. she had already pushed the horde miles further with her improvements to their technology, and she was far more than a merely _acceptable_ partner. she was more enjoyable to work with than any colleague hordak had ever had, and he was grateful for her presence and business.

hordak found her philosophy around failure to be rather interesting. he could certainly see where she was coming from: you can learn from every mistake, and when speaking of science, every mishap gives you data that you can use to quicken your progress. entrapta took everything she could from failed experiments and research gone awry and used it to her advantage, and hordak respected that in a way he hadn't respected _anyone_ in a long, long time.

but, of course, some mistakes proved to be a bit much. he had found her in his sanctum once again, tinkering with one of her newer drone models. she had continued to make improvements based on how they operated in the field, and hordak had observed her progress closely. he stood a bit to her side, but never behind her.

he wouldn't want to block her light.

she was muttering something, frantic rambles under her breath to nobody but herself about what she was working on. entrapta had probably realized that he was standing there, but didn't actually care enough to say anything to him, continuing to rummage around in wires and metal.

"what are you working on?" he leaned a bit closer, squinting. entrapta scooted over to the side to give him more viewing room, and raised her mask.

"oh, just some drone reworks. i'm trying to figure out a way to improve their rate of fire. there's too many opportunities to catch 'em off guard and they can't fire fast enough to react before they get shut down, so i'm looking at the way their cannons work."

"i see," he nodded, finding hanging onto her every word as if she were telling a story, "you have made great strides in improving our technology. i trust the drones will be more efficient than ever once you have finished."

entrapta didn't say anything in response, but he could see her sunny grin just a moment before she pulled her mask back down over her face. he stepped back again and she scooted over, to resume her position. he didn't leave, instead simply standing there with his arms tucked behind his back as he watched her work. her hair and hands moved in perfect time, the strands keeping things in place while she switched between tools with precision hordak had only ever seen from her.

however, his attention was broken when something sparked within the drone and entrapta yelped in pain and shock, ripping her hand backward on reflex. she dropped something, because her hand was empty, and hordak could hear it before he felt it. something inside of the drone exploded, the heated force ramming into them both and flinging them in different directions across the sanctum. the ground was cold in contrast, and he took a brief second to collect himself before standing up.

his thoughts immediately drifted towards entrapta, and he turned to look around the sanctum in search of her. she was on the ground, opposite of him, struggling to stand. she dug the heels of her palms into the floor as she tried to make her legs move, her hair strangely limp. she let out a weak, breathless cough and just barely managed to get to her knees before she collapsed again, one of her hands flying up to press against her chest.

of course. though hordak could return from such a fall easily, entrapta was etherian. and yet, even then, this was unlike her. he had seen her endure things like this many times, and while they were perhaps lesser and not quite of such proportion, she would always get up despite the pain or injury and brush herself off, racing with adrenaline to record her failure and find out what exactly went wrong. to see her struggling to stand, taking in short and hollow breaths after something as simple as a lab accident was strange and inspired something terribly foreign within him.

hordak took long strides across the room, over to entrapta. he reached for her arm and took hold of her wrist, beginning to haul her up, though he was startled by the sudden shout of pain and entrapta's other hand trying weakly to push him away. he let go of her, but didn't let her fall down again, pulling her to her feet in a way that was less painful. of course, this couldn't be done without hordak noticing the piece of shrapnel that had wedged itself just to the right of her sternum, barely missing her heart.

it wasn't rammed deep enough for it to kill her immediately, but blood had begun to soak through her shirt, and if he didn't get her medical attention quick enough, she would bleed out and die on the floor of his sanctum. of course, there was no real reason why hordak couldn't just let her go. entrapta would die in a lab accident, with no one to help her, and it really would be a fitting death.

and yet, still, something foreign had nested itself inside of him and demanded that he help her. she was still useful, despite how much progress she had allowed him. she was still useful, despite the fact that she would likely need several days of rest once the stray metal was removed. she was still useful, despite...whatever it was that she had done to make hordak feel something about her. he supposed he had even begun to like the sound of her voice, after listening to her ramble on every single day.

he sighed, and bent down slightly to hook his hand under her knees and pick her up. entrapta immediately grabbed his forearm, a little startled, but relaxed as she was lifted off the ground and against hordak. he saw imp scamper up one of the walls and into the vents, running off to the infirmary to wait for them there. entrapta's breathing was shallow and harsh, and her hands were shaking, and hordak could see small tears welling up in her eyes, but she wasn't crying. she was stronger than most etherians. this was just another day at work, to her.

of course, hordak carried her all the way to the infirmary. he had guards stationed outside of the doors, to keep her safe. he informed scorpia and catra of her condition, and instructed them to take shifts watching over her.

of course, the guards and force-captains would never dare tell anyone just how many times hordak went back in there after he left the first time. they'd remain silent about the conversations held within, how hordak would come to ask her how she was feeling and ask her if she needed anything, which he would swear was only to make certain that his top technician was doing well and would be in a suitable condition to return to her duties.

of course, entrapda would think often about how _something_ inside of her chest swelled whenever she looked back on it. and of course, she recorded a log about it.


End file.
